The
medal is awarded annually to individuals, teams, companies or divisions of
companies for their outstanding contributions to America’s economic,
environmental and social well-being. By highlighting the national importance of
technological innovation, the medal also seeks to inspire future generations of
Americans to prepare for, and pursue technical careers to keep America at the
forefront of global technology and economic leadership.

Today, President Obama convened a meeting of the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness,
a group of 27 leaders from business, labor and academia tasked with
providing the President advice on strengthening our nation’s economy.

Since its first meeting about a year ago, the Council has put forward a
host of recommendations that foster growth, competitiveness,
innovation, and job creation, both now and for the future. Of the 35
specific recommendations the Council has made that don’t require
legislative action, President Obama has taken action on 33 of them and
his administration has already implemented 16.

At today’s meeting, President Obama praised the Jobs Council for the work they are doing to help our country move forward.

"I recognize a lot of these issues are difficult. They’ve proven
challenging for decades. The good news is on each of these fronts we’ve
made progress this year. I feel confident in being able to say that
every one of the agencies in this government has been focused on how do
they improve, get smarter, get better, get faster, become more focused
on delivering good value to the end user. And I believe that we’ve made
genuine progress on all these fronts. We would not have made this
progress without this Jobs Council."

The Jobs Council released a new report in advance of today's meeting
that details recommendations to improve our nation's long-term
competitiveness by investing in our education system, building on our
strengths in manufacturing and energy, and reforming our regulatory and
corporate tax systems. Read the full report here.

This
morning, President Obama signed an Executive Order to cut waste and to promote
more efficient spending as part of the
administration-wide Campaign
to Cut Waste. Commerce
Department employee Roger Rhoads joined President Obama as he signed the
Executive Order in the Oval Office.

Rhoads
led the effort to identify and shutdown unused cell phones at Commerce. The
department saved $1.8M annually by disconnecting or suspending 81 percent of the 3,200
wireless lines showing zero usage for the previous three months as well as by
optimizing rate plans.

The Executive Order sets bold goals for agencies to
reduce spending on travel; limit the number of information technology devices
(e.g. cell phones, smartphones, tablets, laptops) that can be issued to
individual employees; stop unnecessarily printing documents that can be posted
online; shrink the executive fleet of the federal government; and stop using
taxpayer dollars to buy swag–the unnecessary plaques, clothing and other
promotional items that agencies purchase. Overall spending in the areas covered
by the Executive Order will be reduced by 20 percent, saving billions.

The
Department of Commerce is also reducing the number of its fleetdrivers.
Reductions in drivers and vehicles are expected to generate $100,000 in annual
savings.

The American
people understand that the economic crisis and the deep recession weren’t
created overnight and won’t be solved overnight. The economic security of the
middle class has been under attack for decades. That’s why President Obama
believes we need to do more than just recover from this economic crisis—we need
to rebuild the economy the American way, together, based on balance, fairness,
and the same set of rules for everyone from Wall Street to Main Street. Members
of Congress on both sides of the aisle should lend their bipartisan support for
the American Jobs Act—because it is full of bipartisan ideas. White House fact sheet and overview

President
Obama continues to call upon Congress to pass the American Jobs Act. He has
explained how his proposals will benefit the unemployed and put money back in
Americans' pockets. One proposal includes Pathways Back to Work for Americans
Looking for Jobs. This section of the president’s plan would help out-of-work
Americans and their families by extending unemployment insurance to prevent six
million Americans looking for work from losing their benefits, while at the
same time reforming the system to help support programs that build real skills,
connect to real jobs, and help the long-term unemployed. The president’s plan
is targeted to address long-term unemployment in an aggressive, multi-pronged
way, drawing from ideas about what is working from around the country and from
both parties.

Key
elements of his proposal are:

The most innovative reform to the
unemployment insurance program in 40 years: As part of an extension of unemployment insurance to
prevent five million Americans looking for work from losing their benefits, the president’s plan includes innovative work-based reforms to prevent layoffs and
give states greater flexibility to use Unemployment Insurance (UI) funds to best support job-seekers and
connect them to work.

At the White House this morning, President Obama announced
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke as his choice to be the next Ambassador to China.
As Commerce Secretary, Locke has earned the trust of business leaders across
America, advocating on behalf of America’s businesses and U.S. exports all
around the world. In 2010, Commerce led an
unprecedented number of trade missions worldwide, promoting American
businesses and products, and Locke has been a point person for
the President’s National Export Initiative, which aims to double U.S.
exports in five years, creating several million new jobs. Additionally, as
Commerce Secretary, Locke has helped make progress on the critical partnership
between the U.S and China, expanding opportunities for American companies and
American workers, and negotiating the opening
of the Chinese market to U.S. goods and services. Read Secretary Locke's remarks and watch the video of the announcement below. | Public reaction to announcement | White House blog

Secretary
Locke today joined President Barack Obama in announcing and
congratulating the 2009 winners of the National Medal of Technology and
Innovation. The medal is the nation’s highest honor for technological
and scientific achievement and was awarded to three individuals and one
team, who will receive their awards later this year at the White House.

“Innovation
is a key driver of economic growth, and the technological advances of
the 2009 medalists are truly awe-inspiring,” Locke said. “These
innovations have revolutionized communications, medicine and numerous
other industries, and exemplify American ingenuity and leadership at
its best. The American people greatly appreciate the contributions of
these men and women. I look forward to joining President Obama in
honoring our winners at the White House.”

The
National Medal of Technology and Innovation was created by Congress in
1980 and has been presented by the President of the United States since
1985. A distinguished, independent committee appointed by the Secretary
of Commerce evaluates the merits of all candidates nominated through an
open, competitive process. Committee recommendations are forwarded to
the Secretary, who makes recommendations to the President for a final
decision.

The
Medal program is administered by the Commerce Department’s United
States Patent and Trademark Office. For additional information, visit
www.uspto.gov/nmti. See the related White House announcement
here. Commerce press release

Today the White House released a report to the president on
the National Export Initiative (NEI). It detailed
the way the Export
Promotion Cabinet plans to meet the president’s goal of doubling U.S. exports in five years to support millions of
new jobs.

Since the president announced the NEI, the Department of
Commerce’s Advocacy Center has assisted American companies competing for export
opportunities, supporting $11.8 billion in U.S. exports and an estimated 70,000
jobs. To date, the Commerce Department has coordinated 20 trade missions with
over 250 U.S. companies to 25 countries.

Expanding into new markets is
key for America’s growth as Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said today, “As American consumers
spend a little less and save a little more, it has never been more important to
connect U.S. businesses to the 95 percent of the world's consumers who live
outside our borders. Helping American companies sell more abroad will create
jobs and boost our economy. This report is a blueprint for doing just
that.”

Secretary Gary Locke addressed the annual conference to discuss reforms to the U.S. export
control system that will strengthen national security and improve the
competitiveness of key U.S. manufacturing and technology sectors. In
addition, President Barack Obama delivered a recorded statement about the
administration’s efforts to reform the export control system. Remarks | BIS 2010 Update website

U.S.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke today joined Reps. Jay Inslee and Brian
Baird at the Seattle Central Library in announcing a $54.5 million American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) investment to help bridge the
technological divide, boost economic growth, create jobs, and improve education
and healthcare in difficult terrain both east and west of the Cascade mountain
range in Washington state.

“This
critical investment will lay the groundwork for sustainable economic growth by
connecting difficult terrain both east and west of the Cascades that have been
without the full economic, educational and social benefits of high-speed
Internet,” Locke said.

Following the announcement in Seattle, Secretary Locke joined Reps. Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa in a news conference call to announce six grants totalling more $200 million to expand high-speed Internet access and adoption in California. In addition,
U.S. Department of Commerce Senior Adviser and Deputy Chief of Staff Rick Wade
joined U.S. Sens. Blanche
Lincoln and Mark Pryor, and U.S. Reps. Mike Ross and Vic Snyder in Little Rock in announcing a $102 million Recovery Act
investment that will help improve economic opportunity and support job creation
in Arkansas.

Earlier today, Vice President Joe Biden announced approximately $1.8
billion in new projects that will create jobs and expand economic opportunities
within 37 states across America. Remarks | Read more | White House release